The Mafia Commission Trial
As we said before, it took many years for the US Government to work its way into the mafia world. But between the 60s and the 70s, a series of events helped the government to proceed on a more detailed case against the mob families.
A big step forwards consisted of New York mobster Joseph Valachi’s testimony, who broke his “omerta” and ratted on Cosa Nostra’s businesses, revealing key information about its structure.
After that, it came to the 1968 law that allowed investigators to bring wiretapped evidence in federal courts, leaving more room for action in the battle against organized crime.
In the years to follow, it passed the racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act, which allowed prosecutors to seize the assets of the mobsters.
After that, Rudy Giuliani, a famous federal prosecutor, took advantage of all these new assets and sent to indictment 11 leaders of the Mafia, as well as some of the bosses of the Italian families. Giuliani managed to convict them by planting bugs in different locations in the criminals’ proximity.
For example, he planted a bug on the dashboard of the Jaguar owned by Anthony “Tony Ducks” Corallo, the boss of the Lucchese family at the time. Eight defendants were convicted in 1986.
The case remained famous because it marked the beginning of a new approach against Costa Nostra. It was considered to be more efficient to go after a whole chain of criminals in the Cosa Nostra family, rather than just the boss.
